Revealed: US drone attack in Pakistan killed German ‘security contact’

A German national died in a US drone strike in Pakistan, a report revealed on Monday. The 27-year-old convert to Islam claimed to have close links with German authorities and even to be in contact with security officials.

The strike occurred on February 16, 2012, some 35 km south of the
Pakistani town of Mir Ali, which itself is about 30 kilometers
south east of the Afghan border.

However, it is only now that details have begun to emerge. The
man in question has been identified as Patrick K., from Hesse,
central Germany, according to the German paper, Süddeutsche
Zeitung and the NDR broadcaster.

An entry at a jihadist forum, which also produced video evidence
of his death, stated the man's full name was Patrick Klaus. Two
separate German-language video messages (Part one;
Part
two) posted by German Islamists show Klaus smiling at the
camera as he calls on his compatriots with the same beliefs to:
"Follow me".

The German national apparently switched to Islam at the age of
14, reports Die Welt. In 2011, he moved to Waziristan, a
mountainous region near Afghanistan’s border back in 2011 to live
with his wife, who is thought to be a Pakistani national.

The reports state that at the time of the strike Patrick K. had
been travelling in a pick-up truck alongside several Uzbek
fighters. They were heading in the direction of South Waziristan
when a MQ-1 Predator drone missile hit the vehicle. Nine others
died alongside Patrick K., and the vehicle itself was left
completely burnt out.

“He says that he was in close contact with an official from
the BKA [Federal Criminal Police Office] in Hesse, who allegedly
recruited him successfully,” claims the SZ paper, a
link to which can be found in German.

It is also thought that an official from the domestic
intelligence agency – the Federal Office for the Protection of
the Constitution – had made efforts to communicate with him.

Patrick K. had previously been arrested in Bonn in 2011,
according to Süddeutsche Zeitung, in the run-up to the Social
Democrat’s German Festival to celebrate 150 years of the party’s
existence. Security services were on high alert and feared a
possible attack. However, suspicions about him were quickly
dispelled and the possibility of an attack was dismissed.

Patrick K. travelled to Pakistan a few days afterwards, according
to the paper, and subsequently lost contact with the officials
that he had allegedly been in contact with. Whilst in Pakistan,
he was in contact with the notorious Chouka brothers – Yassin and
Mounir Chouka – two German militants of Moroccan descent, who are
part of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, deemed a terrorist
organization by the UK, US and Russia.

At the time of the 2012 attack’s occurrence, there had been over
260 US drone strikes in the previous eight years. A week prior to
the strike, several senior leaders were also killed in an attack
in North Waziristan. The area is known for high militant
activity, and the US government deems the strikes a necessary and
carefully considered part of the struggle against militant groups
in its "War against Terror" operation.

Pakistan has repeatedly condemned US drone strikes in the
country, with a high court ruling in May last year that strikes
in the tribal belt should be considered war crimes.
Demonstrations against strikes have also taken place, with a
former cricket star-turned politician, Imran Khan, leading a road
block demonstration in November against the practice, of which he
is a harsh critic.